Exemplary embodiments herein generally relate to a drain cleaner or auger, and, more particularly, relate to a feed control device for a manual or hand operated drain cleaner or auger.
Relatively small, portable drain cleaners are well known and, generally include a drain cleaning snake or cable coiled in a housing or drum from which an end of the cable extends for introduction into a drain or sewer line to be cleaned. For hand held and hand operated drain cleaners, a crank is attached to the drum to allow a user to rotate the drum about a support assembly from which a handle depends. The cable extends forwardly of the drum and is extended relative thereto for insertion into the drain to be cleaned and rotates with the drum so as to clear a blockage encountered in the drain. A user withdraws a length of the cable from the drum until a snag or obstruction in a drain is reached. As is well known, the cable can be advanced out of the drum and into a drain through the use of a cable feeding device attached to the drum. The cable feeding device includes a driving mechanism which can selectively engage the cable so that rotation of the drum causes axial movement of the cable. When the drain cleaning operation is completed, the cable is moved back into the drum by the user via engagement of the cable with the driving mechanism and rotation of the drum. In some known hand operated drain cleaners, a pistol grip type handle extends laterally of the axis of rotation for supporting the drum. For those drain cleaners including the cable feeding device, constant pressure by the user has to be applied to the cable feeding device to maintain the engagement between the driving mechanism and the cable. However, this requires one hand to apply the constant pressure and the other hand to rotate the drum. Because of the constant pressure that has to be applied to the cable feeding device to affect axial movement of the cable, drain cleaners of this type can render a drain cleaning operation tedious.